Australia's mandatory detention system violates HR

It called for urgent changes to the mandatory detention policy that go beyond measures announced by Prime Minister John Howard earlier this month to release children and their families from detention and allow long-term detainees to live in the community.

Amnesty said the recent changes were a positive step towards a more human policy on asylum seekers but did not go far enough.

"They still leave Australia in clear breach of its international human rights obligations in the treatment of asylum seekers and refugees," it said.

Amnesty estimated that at the end of May, at least 150 asylum seekers had been held in immigration camps for three years or longer.

The figure included about 50 people in an Australian-funded detention centre on the island nation of Nauru under Canberra's so-called "Pacific Solution" designed to keep would-be refugees off Australian soil.

"People seeking asylum in Australia from human rights abuses in other countries are currently met with a system that further violates their human rights. These violations include administrative detention for a prolonged and potentially indefinite period of time," the report said.